Backhoe attachment worth it?

[rScotty]

An 8 ton industrial backhoe. My M59 is twice the backhoe any tractor backhoe is and itç—´ too wimpy to dig stumps.

Hate to tell you this - but you probably already knew - that anything over about a 12" diameter stump is still a challenge with my 8+ ton industrial backhoe. If I had any number of them to do I'd hire an excavator. One neighbor has gotten good at removing 12" to 18" trees by digging out a large hole on one side and then going around to the other side and pushing it over. With any luck the rootball will be levered up. I think he learned that while bulldozing.
He uses a 580 Case - which is a relatively light industrial backhoe at about 7 or 8 tons. But frankly he is better with his 580 than I am with the larger 310.

That said, I'm of the opinion that any of the Kubota TLBs can dig up a stump if you also have a good chainsaw and plenty of time. It's just time and labor intensive. The time being the major need.

The L39/47 & 48/M59 or M62 are all capable of digging a hole six or eight feet deep and as wide all the way around the stump. You often have to go all the way around... That ought to do it if you don't mind getting down in the hole with the chain saw every fifteen minutes to cut roots that the tractor can't break. A root can be as strong as a rope, so ask yourself if your backhoe can break a two inch hawser with a straight pull? If not, it's cutting time.
Anyway, an hour or two or three of that gets you enough of a hole and enough roots cut for the backhoe to lever the stump to the side enough to start cutting the roots on the bottom. Hopefully the darn thing doesn't have a taproot.... BTW, it gets crowded in that hole - and a bit dangerous too what with all the springy root ends and not much space to work.. And when it finally comes loose, you still have to chain to the stump and lift it out.

When you see a tree growing, ask yourself how much of what you see above ground is repeated underground.

 

[caver]

I had a little 6.5 backhoe on a 20hp Kioti. It was fun for digging small holes but the large rocks I encountered were a bit much. I traded that tractor due to anemic loader capacity and declined to get a tractor mounted backhoe for it. I waited and shopped around for a nice low hour construction TLB.

On edit: Like scotty says my Case 580K can struggle on 15" and much larger Oak stumps I've been digging out.

 

[fried1765]

Hate to tell you this - but you probably already knew - that stumps are still a challenge with my 8+ ton industrial backhoe. If I had any number of them to do I'd hire an excavator. One neighbor has gotten good at removing 12" to 18" trees by digging out a large hole on one side and then going around to the other side and pushing it over. With any luck the rootball will be levered up. I think he learned that while bulldozing.
He uses a 580 Case - which is a relatively light industrial backhoe at about 7 or 8 tons. But frankly he is better with his 580 than I am with the larger 310.

That said, any of the Kubota TLBs can dig up a stump if you also have a good chainsaw and plenty of time. The time being the major need.

The L39/47 & 48/M59 or M62 are all capable of digging a hole six or eight feet deep and as wide all the way around the stump. You have to go all the way around... That ought to do it if you don't mind getting down in the hole with the chain saw every fifteen minutes to cut roots that the tractor can't break. A root can be as strong as a rope, so ask yourself if your backhoe can break a two inch hawser with a straight pull? If not, it's cutting time.
Anyway, an hour or two or three of that gets you enough of a hole and enough roots cut for the backhoe to lever the stump to the side enough to start cutting the roots on the bottom. Hopefully the darn thing doesn't have a taproot.... BTW, it gets crowded in that hole - and a bit dangerous too what with all the springy root ends and not much space to work.. And when it finally comes loose, you still have to chain to the stump and lift it out.

When you see a tree growing, ask yourself how much of what you see above ground is repeated underground.

If the situation permits, I just dig the hole deep enough to roll the stump in, and bury it.

 

[rScotty]

I had a little 6.5 backhoe on a 20hp Kioti. It was fun for digging small holes but the large rocks I encountered were a bit much. I traded that tractor due to anemic loader capacity and declined to get a tractor mounted backhoe for it. I waited and shopped around for a nice low hour construction TLB.

On edit: Like scotty says my Case 580K can struggle on 15" and much larger Oak stumps I've been digging out.

It is really surprising what a nice full size TLB you can get for a good price. Ignore the nasty ones; there are plenty out there with relatively low hours and in really nice condition. I was surprised at how much my money would buy. I was offered two JD310s both about 25 years old that had less than 1000 hours on them (nearly new) for about half what they cost when new. Both belonged to knowledgeable homeowners. I ended up with one for much less that had been worked very hard but was a one owner. Well maintained and with high hours but still it works like a charm. Though I did have to put the requisite $4 or $6 grand into tires, batteries (2), belts, hoses, maintenance oil & filter, and one cylinder rebuild. That's about as expected for a used 50 to 90 hp tractor. It has needed nothing mechanical, though. And still cost 1/3 or less than new.
rScotty

 

[4570Man]

Hate to tell you this - but you probably already knew - that anything over about a 12" diameter stump is still a challenge with my 8+ ton industrial backhoe. If I had any number of them to do I'd hire an excavator. .

My 310 was way more capable at stumping than the M59 is. I’ve dug 30” oak stumps with the 310 with marginal effort. Plus the 310 was way more durable than the M59. It didn’t bother me to pry away with the 310 at anything in the way and it didn’t care. The M59 not so much. I traded my 310 in on the M59. I don’t regret the decision, the M59 is so much more versatile but I do miss the 310. Enough so that Im planning on buying another one. A lot of the reason is cheap operating.

 

[Slackdaddy]

I live on 20 wooded acres,
When I built my house I owned a Case 580 Super E (in my avitar)
Even that machine struggled with mature oak stumps,,, I hired an excavator for a day.

When I finished my house and rough ground work I sold my Case 580 for 3K MORE than I bought it for and bought a Kioti CK20S.
The Kioti CK20 is everything I ever need/will need on this property.
I bought a Woods BH65 with sub frame about 6 years ago,,, I have yet to use it once. I am sure I will have projects that will need it,, but I assumed I would be using it once a week.
I should have saved the $4000 on the backhoe. I have 3 rental places withing 25 minutes of me, a mini-medium Excavator is $250-300 a day add $50 for delivery and pickup.

 

[kenmbz]

I have a SCUT with a BH and have taken out a 30" ash stump using the BH to dig out and a sawzall to cut roots. This took days and I could not get anything larger in as this was close to my pool fence line.
For 8" and smaller, I can pop a stump every 2-3 hours.
I would still say for a lot of 12" Ash , a good stump grinder or drill and rot would be my choice. Spending a whole day or more per stump would mean a lot of other stuff wont get done.
Or a huge excavator...when we put my pool in we used the excavator to knock over a number of trees, that bucket was almost the size of my tractor and quite expensive to rent.